Georgia learns a lot in week before Bulldogs' tough Bahamas test

ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia Basketball is just over a week into its season, and the Bulldogs have learned a lot. With three games in seven days to start the 2023-24 campaign, Mike White was able to figure out exactly what his team was made of.

“I learned that we have a ways to go, but that we’re capable of beating an ACC team. But also, when we’re not firing on all cylinders a major program is going to be really competitive against us,” White said. “We’ve got a pretty wide spectrum right now.”

Georgia, the only high-major conference team to open with back-to-back games against high-major conference opponents, opened with an 82-71 loss to Oregon in Las Vegas last Monday. Then, the Bulldogs returned home to beat Wake Forest 80-77 the following Friday before a 64-54 win over North Carolina Central on Sunday.

Jabri Abdur-Rahim has led the team in scoring twice in the three games, something he did just once in 32 outings last year, while the likes of Silas Demary and RJ Melendez have both pitched in with a pair of double-digit scoring efforts. Noah Thomasson (21 vs. Wake), Russel Tchewa (11 vs. Wake), Justin Hill (11 vs. NC Central) and Blue Cain (12 vs. Oregon) each have one double-digit day to their name.

One big issue for the Bulldogs so far? Rebounding. Georgia has been out-rebounded in all three outings including by 22 against Oregon. While the Ducks brought to the table size that’ll rarely be seen with a trio of 6-foot-10+ options, it’s certainly an issue that needs to be addressed.

White also wants to see his team do a better job with ball movement. When the Dawgs have been unselfish, the offense has worked better. When they’re taking what White calls “my-turn shots,” things aren’t as smooth – as was the case during a stretch of over 10:00 without a field goal on Sunday against NC Central.

“Yeah, ball movement is probably more than shot selection. I don’t think we just took a handful of bad shots, we took some average ones. We got less possessions of course and those guys shortened the game on us and they did a great job of it and they played the late clock a bunch. So, each possession becomes a little bit more important to you. It’s the first time it’s happened to us. All of the sudden your decisions become a little more important and when you make some subpar ones, they get magnified and before you know it you’ve gone four or five minutes where you’ve come up empty,” White said on Sunday. “I liked our ball movement versus zone late and eventually with them denying passes and extending, to a certain extent we just had to put our head down and guys like Justin Hill stepped up and made some plays for us late.”

“I thought we looked a little bit rattled after we missed a few really good looks early. We didn’t play as confidently as we needed to play,” he added. “We’re always preaching, next play, next shot, let’s control the quality of the shot rather than the result. After we had some negative results I thought it became mental for us. We have got to be stronger moving forward.”

Georgia’s schedule doesn’t get any easier from here though. The Bulldogs head to the Bahamas for the Baha Mar Hoops Bahamas Championship where they’ll open with a Miami (Fla.) team coming off of a Final Four appearance in April. Then, it’s either Kansas State or Providence, both of whom also made the NCAA Tournament last season.

“Great opportunity,” White said. “We wanted to beef up the schedule a little bit. Got a couple of neutral court opportunities against high level opponents. Who knows who that next opponent will be, but we’ll continue to find out more about our team just like we did the last week.”

“Definitely exciting to play a Final Four team and get a taste of what it’s like to play tournament teams. I feel like our focus, especially after today, is going to be more locked in, really looking to hone in on the game plan, stop their top guys, get our top guys going, win the rebound battle, get stops, just do a little bit of everything for us to get the win.”

Tip time on Friday against the Hurricanes is set for 3:30 p.m. ET on CBS Sports Network.